Linda Chen

yeah what he said about the preamp placement is dead on, i learned that the hard way. also worth knowing that the moonbounce reflections are pretty doppler shifted depending on where the moon is in its orbit so youll need to account for that in WSJT-X, but honestly the software handles most of it once you dial in your settings. the hardest part for me was getting the antenna elevation sorted because if you cant track the moon properly none of the gain matters. even a simple SPID or similar rotor setup helps a lot but ive seen guys do it with manual az/el and a moon tracking app which is kind of impressive and kind of painful at the same time

yeah the switch between two antennas thing is totally doable and a lot of guys do exactly that. coax switch is like $30-40 and you just run two feedlines. i ran an M2 2M5WL alongside my vertical for a while and the difference for that one repeater i was chasing was night and day, like went from occasional scratchy hits to full quieting. the yagi is just a completely different tool for a specific job. stacking verticals is a real thing and does give you gain but it gets complicated fast, you need a phasing harness thats cut right and the spacing matters a lot, and honestly for 3-4 dB gain its probably more trouble than just throwing up a small yagi on a separate mount. if you know the direction of the repeater the yagi wins every time for that use case. i wouldnt overthink it, a 6 element on 2m is a pretty small antenna physically and easy enough to put on a chimney mount or a push up pole

okay so ive been licensed about 8 months now and i still get kind of nervous about nets. like i listen to the local tuesday night 2m net pretty regularly and sometimes i check in but sometimes i just listen and i honestly dont know if thats considered bad form or what. the net control guy seems pretty chill but i dont want to be that person who just lurks every week without ever participating. also related i guess — when net control asks for any traffic or announcements and i have literally nothing to say, am i supposed to say my callsign anyway just to check in or do i wait until he specifically calls for check-ins? i keep second guessing the order of things and sometimes i miss my window and feel dumb about it. not a huge deal i know but just want to make sure im doing it right

yeah i did the same mod about a year ago and the warmup stability thing is real, not your imagination. i run a lot of weak signal VHF stuff and it made a genuine difference for me. the phase noise improvement is supposedly measurable but i think you need pretty serious test equipment to actually see it in practice, most of us wont notice it in real world operating. one thing i will say is if you're doing the mod anyway, its a good opportunity to check the general condition of the board and make sure your thermal paste on the finals hasnt dried out or whatever. mine had gotten a bit crusty and i figured while i was in there id deal with it. just something to consider if you havent been inside the rig before.

JS8Call setup on a 7300 with a SignaLink is basically identical to WSJT-X honestly, same audio routing same COM port stuff. if you've got FT8 working you'll have JS8Call running in like 20 minutes. the bigger adjustment is just mentally — it moves slower, messages take longer to complete, and yeah activity is thinner. but when you do connect with someone it feels like an actual QSO instead of a grid square handshake. i check into a couple JS8Call nets on 40m, one in the evenings, and theres usually a handful of guys around. not wall to wall like FT8 but enough. 14.078 on 20m tends to have more action during the day if you're in north america. give it a shot, worst case you spent an afternoon fiddling with audio levels which honestly we all do for fun anyway

this is kind of timely because i just got wrecked trying to work that recent one from the south atlantic. ran like 400w into a 4el yagi pointed right at it and still nothing for like an hour before i gave up. my logging software shows i transmitted probably 60+ times lol. one thing i noticed though — i switched from VOX to PTT keying and it felt like my timing got a little tighter, less of that trailing noise on the end of my transmission. might be nothing but it felt better. also tried listening on the DX's tx freq for a bit to get a sense of his rhythm before jumping in, that helped with the timing thing you mentioned. i still got skunked on that one but at least i felt like i was doing something more intentional than just screaming into the void

oh man the 857D is such a good rig for mobile, you're gonna love it on 2m. i ran one for probably four years in my old jeep. the head separation cable is a little short for some dash setups but sounds like you already sorted that part out. i dont have a ton to add on the RF interference stuff that the previous reply didn't cover but just wanted to say — when i finally did a proper NMO through hole mount it was like night and day compared to the mag mount i had before. honestly just go for it, worst case scenario you have a small hole in your roof which isnt the end of the world if you seal it right. i used a step drill bit and it went through the sheetmetal real clean.

i did the same thing you described, just had the second radio on with headphones one ear each and yeah it was a mess at first. took me most of a full cqww before i stopped fat fingering calls on the run freq. what actually helped me was using the SO2R features in n1mm properly instead of just winging it — the alt-tab radio switching and having the audio set up right so you can actually hear both without losing your mind. if youre not using n1mm or similar you're making it harder than it needs to be. also even with mediocre antennas the S&P assist mode is worth it just for mult hunting on the second band during your run qso gaps, you'd be surprised

ok so ive been licensed for about 3 months now and i upgraded to general last month and im still kind of lost on the whole frequency thing. like i know there are portions of 40m i can use now that i couldnt before but every chart i find online seems to show it slightly differently and one of them said something about "band edges" being dangerous to operate near and i dont really understand what that means like is 7.125 safe to use for SSB? and whats the deal with the phone/data portions, is there a hard line or is it more of a suggested thing? i dont wanna step on anyone or worse transmit where im not supposed to as a general. my elmer kind of glossed over this part

vertical. always vertical for dx on 40. low angle radiation is just better for that skip distance and a dipole at 35ft is basically nvis territory. i run a homebrew vertical with about 25 radials on 40 and 80 and it punches way above what i expected. yeah the radial work is annoying but you do it once and forget about it. the clay concern is real but like the other guy said radials fix most of that. just my two cents, ive done both and the vertical wins for dx every time at that height.

honest answer? the theory clicked for me way more than i expected. like i went in thinking it was gonna be pure memorization like the general pool but some of the extra stuff — the filter stuff especially — actually made me understand why my antenna tuner does what it does. the smith chart questions look scarier than they are, theres really only a handful of ways they ask about it and once you see the pattern its not bad. as for the privileges, i thought the same thing as you before i passed. but having access to the lower cw portions of 40 and 80 is actually really nice for dx work, less qrm down there most of the time. and 60 meters is cleaner on the extra segments too. but yeah if youre happy with what youre doing now and not chasing dx or contesting much, its not gonna change your life overnight. i still think its worth it just to have done it though, and studying for it made me a better operator even if i cant explain exactly how.

so ive been trying to get Winlink going for about two weeks now and i think i finally understand the basics but the gateway side of things is still kind of a mess in my head. like i get that Winlink Express is the client software and you connect through an RMS gateway to get your messages routed through the CMS servers but what i dont fully get is whether im supposed to be connecting to a specific gateway or if the software just picks the nearest one automatically. right now im using Vara HF on 40m and i can see a list of gateways in the software but when i try to connect it times out most of the time. i did get through once to W3XSC and it pulled down a test message i sent myself from the web interface which was pretty cool honestly. but im not sure if im just getting lucky or if theres something specific about how you're supposed to pick a gateway — distance, propagation, whatever. also the whole message handling side is something i want to understand better eventually, like setting up a proper winlink address and making sure replies actually come back to me correctly. right now its just the default [email protected] which i assume is fine. anyone been through this learning curve recently and have advice on what clicked for them

yeah 30 seconds fixed is pretty aggressive, especially if youre sitting still. the whole point of SmartBeaconing is it slows way down when you're parked and speeds up when youre turning or accelerating. if its set to fixed 30 sec that means SmartBeaconing isnt actually active. on the D710 you have to go into the APRS settings and explicitly enable it, its not on by default if i remember right. i think the menu is like APRS > SmartBeaconing and theres a toggle. once thats on you set a low speed threshold like 5mph and a high speed like 60mph and let it figure out the interval between those. most people do maybe 5 min when stationary and down to like 30-60 sec when moving fast and turning. way better for the network and honestly gives better track resolution on corners anyway.

yeah the softserial thing will bite you eventually especially if you care about timing accuracy for WSPR since that protocol is pretty unforgiving about being even a couple seconds off. what i ended up doing on a similar project was use a Mega instead of the Uno just so i had the extra hardware serial ports and didnt have to deal with any of that softserial interrupt conflict nonsense. TinyGPS++ works fine but yeah you need it on a real hardware serial port to be reliable. the optocoupler for PTT is the right call, good on you for doing that from the start. i used a PC817 on mine and it works fine, just watch your current limiting resistor on the LED side. one thing i added later was a small relay after the opto just because i felt better about it for the radio side, probably not strictly necessary but whatever it let me sleep at night. also if youre doing WSPR specifically you might want to look at the si5351 breakout boards, some people skip the radio entirely for low power WSPR beacons and just use one of those with a LPF. might be overkill for what you want but worth knowing about.

so i've been licensed for about 6 years now mostly doing SSB and some digital modes but i always told myself id eventually learn CW and just kept putting it off. anyway this winter i actually committed and ive been doing the lcwo.net lessons for a couple months now and im getting close to 10wpm which honestly feels like a huge deal for me. my question is about keyers and paddles. right now im just using the built-in keyer in my IC-7300 with a cheap amazon straight key to practice, but i keep reading that paddles are better for anything above like 8wpm or so. is that actually true or is it more personal preference? also is there a big difference between a single lever paddle and a dual lever (iambic)? ive seen people get pretty passionate about this topic online and im not sure what to make of it all. i dont want to spend a ton of money but also dont want to buy garbage. any thoughts appreciated, even if its just what you personally use.

the inverted V geometry definitely affects resonant length compared to a flat top dipole, the legs being at an angle kind of compresses things electrically so it usually ends up a bit shorter than you'd expect from the textbook formula. 1.8:1 at 7.2 isn't really worth losing sleep over honestly, most rigs and tuners will handle that no problem. if you want to trim more just do it in small increments, like 2-3 inches at a time per side and recheck. going too short is more annoying to fix than going too long. the PVC feedpoint is totally fine, lots of guys run those for years. i'd maybe hit the SO-239 and any exposed connections with some self-amalgamating tape or even just a blob of silicone from a hardware store tube. keeps the moisture out of the connector and that's really all you need to worry about. the pvc itself handles UV and weather pretty well as long as its not like, sitting in standing water or something.

so ive been going back and forth on this for like two months now and im just gonna ask because im driving myself crazy. i have a decent backyard, maybe 80 feet of usable space end to end, and i want to get on 40m more seriously. right now im running an end-fed that works okay but the SWR above 7.2 is kind of annoying and i think i can do better. the dipole option is pretty obvious — cut it to length, throw it up inverted-V style from a 35ft push-up mast i already have, call it done. probably around 66ft total. the thing is a neighbor has a vertical, one of those trap verticals, and he swears by it for DX. says the low angle radiation makes all the difference. but ive read enough to know a vertical at ground level with bad radials is basically a dummy load so im skeptical. i mostly do casual ragchews and a little DX when something interesting pops up, not a serious contester or anything. whats the actual real world difference gonna be for someone like me? is the dipole just the smarter choice here or am i missing something about the vertical that would change my mind

ok so I passed my general a few weeks ago and im trying to figure out where i can actually transmit on 40 meters. I know theres a chart somewhere but every time i look at it i get confused because theres the FCC allocation and then theres also like the ARRL band plan and they dont seem to match up exactly or at least i cant figure out which one actually matters legally. Like can i just operate anywhere in the general portion or are there gentleman's agreements about certain parts of the band i should stay away from. also what does it mean when people say dont operate too close to the band edge, is that a legal thing or just like a courtesy thing. sorry if this is a dumb question

yeah this is pretty much exactly what everyone goes through, don't sweat it. the iambic thing tripped me up for months when i was starting out. what helped me was actually switching the keyer to mode A instead of mode B if it has that option — mode A stops the alternating as soon as you release both paddles which feels a lot more predictable when youre learning. the MFJ keyers usually have that in the menu somewhere. also honestly 13 wpm might be a little fast if your muscle memory isnt there yet. some people say to just power through at speed but i found dropping down to like 8 or 9 and really nailing clean characters did more for me long term. the paddles take a while to feel natural, its basically like learning a musical instrument. your hand will stop doing weird things eventually, it just takes more hours than you think it will.

so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and just started getting into DX chasing. a buddy told me to check out DXwatch and the cluster on QRZ but honestly im a little lost on how to actually use it. like i can see spots coming in but i dont really know what im supposed to do with them or how fast i need to move. do people just sit there refreshing and then run to their radio whenever something shows up? and is there a way to filter by band because right now its just a firehose of spots and i cant tell whats relevant to my situation. im running a basic HF setup, nothing fancy, so not everything i see is actually workable for me anyway. also saw something about DX Sherpa and a couple android apps that can do cluster alerts — are those worth messing with or is the web interface good enough for most people

not a dumb question at all, everyone goes through this. the Q codes go back to like pre-radio telegraph days and theres a ton of them but you really only need to know maybe a dozen or so for everyday use. QRM is interference from other stations, QRN is natural static noise, QSB is when your signal is fading up and down, QRP means low power operation (usually 5 watts or less), QRO is the opposite high power, QRZ means whos calling me or whos there, and QSY means change frequency. you'll hear those constantly. and yeah 73 and 88 are not Q codes theyre just traditional numeric codes. 73 is best regards or best wishes, pretty much how everyone signs off. 88 means love and kisses and you mostly hear that between people who know each other well or sometimes between op couples. theres a whole old list of numeric codes like that but most of them have fallen out of use except 73 and occasionally 88. just keep listening and youll absorb it faster than you think, honestly the best way to learn is just get on the air and ask people when you dont understand something, most hams are happy to explain

the 2n2222a getting warm isnt necessarily wrong but it depends on how you have the bias set up. those little transistors are rated for not much collector dissipation, like 500mW absolute max and thats pushing it. if your bias is set too high you could be burning a lot of power as heat instead of rf. worth checking the quiescent current with the key up and seeing if its way higher than the design calls for. EMRFD usually gives you target numbers for that stuff. for the audio hum on the direct conversion rx, first thing id check is if its 60hz or 120hz hum because that tells you a lot. 60hz usually means youre picking up the ac fundamental somewhere, 120hz is more often a rectification issue in your power supply filtering. try running off a battery and see if it goes away, if it does then your power supply filtering needs work. if it stays then youre probably picking up hum through the antenna or a ground loop somewhere. dc rx builds are notorious for this honestly, you kind of fight it the whole time. for an enclosure hammond makes some decent aluminum boxes that are pretty affordable and you can find them on mouser. i use an altoids tin for the really tiny stuff but for a 40m rig youre probably going to want something bigger. just drill it carefully and take your time, thats the part i always rush and regret

i went from a 590 to a 7300 about two years ago and the waterfall really does change how you operate, like i find stuff i would have just tuned past before. that said my buddy runs a 590SG and we're usually close on signal reports so i dont think its a night and day recieve thing. the touchscreen on the 7300 takes getting used to, sometimes i still accidentally bump settings mid-qso which is annoying. the 7610 is a noticably better radio than the 7300 if you can stretch the budget, dual watch is actually useful not just a gimmick. but thats a bigger jump in price obivously.

im pretty new too but i picked up a cheat sheet from my local club that had maybe 30 of the most common ones and that helped a lot. also when i was studying for my tech exam some of this came up. the Q codes i use the most already are just QTH, QSL, QRM and QRZ honestly, everything else i just kind of figure out from context when someone uses it

Quick question - does it include color codes and talk groups for the DMR listings? That's what I really need when I'm traveling between different regions for work. The online databases are often incomplete or outdated.